Our People
FIVE GENERATIONS
In our family, wool is in the blood. It is why we are still here, more than a century after our forebear William H Smith first arrived on this land. Across five generations we have diversified and evolved, and we remain family-owned and operated: proud custodians of this East Coast land. Today, Wisewool™ joins that deep agricultural heritage with advanced material science to design high-performing natural materials for a global market.
Henry Hansen
During the 2020 lockdown, Henry Hansen found himself reflecting on the future of both the family business and the strong wool industry he has dedicated much of his life to. Determined to help restore value to strong wool and create new opportunities for growers, the idea of Wisewool™ was born.
Having worked in the family business since the age of 17, Henry is passionate about building a future where wool once again receives the recognition it deserves. But for him, business has always been about people.
A proud family man, Henry feels deeply fortunate to work alongside his wife Nicky, son Angus and nephew Harry at Wisewool™, while sharing the day-to-day journey with his brother Andrew, nephew Ben, friend Nigel and a team of champion blokes in the family's 135-year-old procurement business. Working alongside family and good mates is something he never takes for granted.
Outside of work, you will find Henry on his bike, racket in hand on the tennis court, or enjoying good music and great company. Deeply grateful for the farming community he calls home and the friendships built over a lifetime in wool, his passion for the fibre, his family and his community continues to drive everything he does.
managing director and CEO
Nicky Hansen
During Covid, while riding alongside her husband, Nicky spent countless hours in conversation about wool and its future. Those talks sparked the idea that would become Wisewool™, born from a lifelong family passion for the fibre and a clear-eyed belief in what it could still do. The enthusiasm was contagious. Before long, Nicky found herself back in her sewing room, exploring the structural capability and performance of New Zealand strong wool with the kind of curiosity that turns ideas into products.
Today, as Director of Innovation and NPD, she leads product development and quality assurance, working closely with the engineering team to design new commercial applications for Wisewool materials. She counts herself fortunate to work alongside her husband, her son, her nephew and a team that shares the same conviction: that wool is more than a fibre. It is a purpose, a legacy, and a story worth building for the generations ahead.
director of Innovation & NPD
Harry Urquhart-Hay
commercial director - Sales & Marketing
A great-great-grandson of W H Smith, Harry has had wool woven through his life since childhood, even if that once meant crashing forklifts in the woodshed. After years in advertising across London, he founded Orbitsound in New Zealand, a spatial audio company that delivered surround sound from a single speaker. When family drew him home, he came back to wool at exactly the right moment: global manufacturing was shifting back toward natural materials, and the best opportunity was right in front of him.
At Wisewool™, Harry leads global sales and marketing. His favourite part of the job is introducing innovative brands to what New Zealand strong wool can genuinely do for their products. Outside work, he is raising three children under five in Bali, which keeps things interesting. When he gets a moment, you will find him cooking, surfing or anywhere near the water.
Angus Hansen
Born and bred in Gisborne and now based in Mount Maunganui, Angus came to Wisewool™ straight from university where he had been working as a project manager. For a great-great-grandson of W H Smith, joining the family business was never just a career move. Five generations of wool heritage carry real weight, and Angus feels that responsibility every day on the factory floor.
At Wisewool™, Angus directs operations and runs our Te Poi manufacturing facility. He is driven by the belief that there is always something to improve, and that a world-class ingredient brand is built through relentless operational focus. His goal is clear: build the best possible team and the infrastructure to take Wisewool™ truly global. Outside work, you will find him surfing, fishing or on the golf course.
Operations director
Frank Janssen
Frank Janssen joined Wisewool™ in 2021, bringing an objective, independent perspective to our family business. With deep experience governing high-growth startups and leading established family companies, he adds a valuable strategic skill set to our field. Championing our values and driving long-term commercial strategy, Frank helps keep Wisewool™ structurally robust. His goal aligns directly with ours: increasing the value of strong wool and creating sustainable revenue for our generational growers.
Chairman
Peter Steckel's journey with wool has come full circle. Having worked for Kreglinger, then one of the largest wool exporters from New Zealand and Australia, Peter moved to G Modiano in London as a wool trader, looking after European markets until 1999. That chapter grounded a career in international trade and governance spanning online mapping, business travel software and intellectual property services — but wool never left him.
German-American and based between Italy and Sri Lanka, Peter brings a rare breadth of international commercial insight to Wisewool. His work has always been driven by relationships, business opportunity and a belief that the right natural materials find their way back to the people who understand them best. Since 1999, the pull back to wool has been constant. Joining Wisewool™ is the answer to that call.
Non Exec Director
Peter Steckel
Wisewool™ lead engineer Mike Tattersall comes from a dairy background. In 2003 he changed tack, bought a small carding system, and has not looked back since. Moving into needle-punched blanketing and wool batting production in 2006, Mike used his engineering expertise to custom-redesign components of our processing machinery. His mechanical approach caught international attention, with a global manufacturer acquiring his prototype machinery. Today, Mike makes sure our Te Poi line custom-engineers our scoured fibre into stable, high-performance materials.
Engineer
Mike Tattersall
geoff carson
Geoff Carson is a Matamata local with a life built on practical expertise and quiet versatility. A certified skipper and horticulturist, he has turned his hand to building, roofing and everything in between, the kind of grounded, get-it-done capability that a growing manufacturing operation depends on. Most recently, he spent a decade managing twelve staff at Ballebo's cold storage and trucking facility in Waharoa, bringing real operational depth to the Wisewool™ floor. When Geoff encountered the Wisewool™ story, it aligned immediately with values he had held for years. He joins Angus across day-to-day operations at Te Poi, focused on efficiency, quality and the steady work of scaling a world-class ingredient brand. Outside the factory, you will find him on the water, at the dartboard, or making his peace with golf.
operations
Samantha O’Connell
Sam has always been more interested in why something exists than what it does. That instinct has shaped a digital marketing career built around purpose-driven businesses and the stories worth telling about them.
She came to Wisewool drawn by the mission: a brand challenging the status quo of an industry with an extraordinary story still left to tell. Growing up rurally gave her a deep respect for farmers and the land, and the more she has learned about the true performance of wool, the more convinced she has become that natural materials are where the future is heading.
Sam sharpens our messaging and extends our global reach, applying her strategic expertise to a brand she genuinely believes in. Outside work, you will find her near the ocean, with her family — and mostly her dogs.
Marketing
tracey wells
Tracey grew up in Southern California, moved to New Zealand at 19 for what was supposed to be a year away, and just never left. That instinct to follow something worth staying for has defined her ever since.
What drew her to Wisewool was simple: the people behind it genuinely care about what they are building, and that energy is impossible to miss. Keeping the books for a family-run business like this feels less like a job and more like looking after something worth looking after.
Outside of work, you will find Tracey at a go-kart track somewhere on the North Island, watching her son race and probably loving every lap of it more than he realises.
accounts
Meet the Farmers
Generational custodians of the land.
At the heart of the Wisewool™ journey is our network of over 250 family-owned partner farms across the wider Tairāwhiti Gisborne region. We have worked alongside some of these families for well over a century, on relationships built on mutual respect, deep agricultural expertise and an unwavering commitment to A-grade quality.
George and Emma Mcildowie
Totangi Station
The McIldowie family has farmed Gisborne’s Totangi Station since 1907. Longtime campaigners for wool’s natural performance, George and Emma balance the station’s ecosystem between sheep and cattle, clipping over 60,000 kilograms of strong wool a year.
“Sheep have been at the core of our business, and the coarse wool of the Romney breed is a tried and tested survivor of the decades,” says George. “We wholeheartedly believe wool will return to its rightful place in our everyday modern lives and re-establish itself as a premium, primary fibre.”
Henry and Sofie Gaddum
Kōtare Station
An hour inland from central Gisborne in the Matawai district, Kōtare Station has been owned and operated by the Gaddum family for three generations. Now under Henry and Sofie, the station is a benchmark for profitable, sustainable land management built to safeguard the landscape for generations. Driven by environmental progress, Kōtare partners with Toha, a social enterprise focused on environmental regeneration and data-verified ecological impact in New Zealand.
Fraser and Jamie Tombleson
Aerial Station
Aerial Station is a sheep and cattle farmacross 1,006 hectares of steep hill country. Supplying its exceptional Romdale fleece exclusively to Wisewool™, the Tomblesons meet rigorous global parameters, shipping their primary products to highly regulated international markets. Rather than resting on legacy methods, the pair is actively verifying Aerial Station as an officially recognised regenerative farm.
“We have a goal of working towards being economically and environmentally sustainable,” Fraser explains. “The ultimate goal is to pass a thriving, resilient farm to the next generation.”
